Sights and upper, along with anything else that might tip it off as an USAMU gun. Certain color of marker used by their smiths to mark their zeros in certain years, tape on the trigger guard, how they marked the triggers, if they marked them at all, with an electro pencil...stuff like that.

I would speculate that they were at some point, but I have no idea what their procedure is for when the team moves to new equipment. Perhaps they offer the team members the chance to buy them? If someone knows for certain what the procedure is, that would be good information to have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gewehr43

So someone is offering you a stolen rifle?

I sincerely doubt that any of the military marksmanship teams or a gentleman that managed EIC matches that included those teams for decades would risk jail-time by doing something illegal. Maybe the person in charge of the Unit ok'd it as a gift for graciously hosting the team over the years, who knows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gewehr43

And you are posting in public questions about how to verify it's status..........

Yes, because I figured that this would be a good place to find people who might be able to shed some light on the rifle's background beyond what I already know.

Cool........... ok so you know the guy you bought this from.......... since he's with the AMU, can't he verify the rifle for you?

There is an saying.........."Buy the rifle, not the story."

I'm not sure what your interest is the rifle but either get some proof of this story or pay whatever a used A2 match- conditioned AR is running.

The AMU members, if they won anything shooting, are known. The seller should pop up with a google search................

Hope it helps.............

PS............... is it possible the owner of the rifle is telling you a line just to get more money from you?

The gentleman that previously owned the rifle has passed away. I acquired the rifle at auction because it sold for less than what pre-ban Colt HBAR lowers are currently selling for, nevermind the additional expensive bits. I knew the man prior to his passing through rifle clinics/matches and events, but he had been sick recently and I had moved on from match shooting due to other things taking priority in my life, so I didn't have the opportunity to ask him about this particular gun before he passed.

It being a USAMU rifle is speculation on my part based on a variety of factors. Call it a hunch if you want to. That said, I have no idea which member he would've purchased this from, if it is even a USAMU rifle in the first place. That's the first thing I'd like to establish before I start digging into the rest of the rifle's background.

It may very well end up being "just" a nice used match rifle that I got a deal on. I'd be fine with that, but I'd like to explore the possibility of it having a military pedigree, just like anyone on here would for a 1903, Garand, etc.

Old guns (like obsolete running boar Olympic rifles, etc.) have been donated by AMU to the CMP, but it seems unlikely to me that you'd see a modern rifle leave AMU.

Often, military armorers retire and build the exact same guns that they built for the military teams. For instance, you can buy Gene Clark complete uppers at Creedmoor Sports, so in effect you could legally get what AMU had. You can also get an accurized M9 from David Sams built the same way he did at AMU.

Also, in some instances the military teams did allow military armorers to work on personally-owned firearms. Some military smiths also had side businesses that were perfectly legal provided they worked on personally-owned firearms using their own tools on their own time.

So in effect if you had firearms built by the same guy using the same parts, you'd have exactly what the teams had.